A sunny spring morning. She was lying on bed with her eyes closed, a few rays of sun breaking through the curtains, tickling her pale sleeping face. Her room, even though she's a neat person, this time was quite messy. Unfolded clothes lying on a cozy ivory armchair, one shoe put on its side next to the bed, far away from its right companion. Makeup brushes still covered in some powder and bronzer. Her room looking like she was in hurry just the night before.
She was deep asleep, not even moving her finger, dreaming of nothing. Just when she was about to turn to the other side, a small creature jumped on her bed, came closer and began to rub itself against her face. She shook her head a bit and rubbed her face with her hand, after what she stretched and opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was her tricolour cat sitting right in front of her face, looking at her with curious eyes. She smiled a bit and pet the cat on its head with a gentle smile.
- Hello – she whispered to the pet, now rubbing its chin. She put a hand on a side of her head with a grimace on her face. – Uhh.. who could expect it would hurt so much, huh? – she moaned. A strong pain radiating through her whole head. She closed her eyes for a short moment and rapidly got up, sitting up on her bed. The girl quickly grabbed her phone and checked the hour. – Fuck! – she gasped. – I overslept. She's gonna kill me – added, unlocking her phone. There was one unread message.
EMILY: "Hi, I'm almost there, will wait for you! ❤️ "
"Sent 5 minutes ago…" – she thought. Quickly pressed the reply button and typed a message.
CASSIDY: "Sure! I'm almost ready! See ya! ❤️"
The woman stretched once again and got up, going straight to the bathroom. She stood up in front of a mirror and looked at herself. She was a pretty tall her, approximately 170cm. Her hair was breast length and straight, light blonde with visible dark blonde roots, must have bleached her hair some time ago. She had blue/grayish eyes and pale complexion, some small imperfections visible on her skin, but many people still envied how good it looked.
She turned on the tap. Lukewarm water started falling down, splashing around the sink. She watered her hands and started rubbing her face slowly, bending down to be closer to the sink. She turned of the tap, grabbed a paper towel, tearing off only two pieces and softly dried up her skin, then looking at the mirror again. She didn't seem to enjoy what she saw. There were some dark circles visible under her eyes, which by the way looked very tired as she only got 5 hours of sleep. The girl grabbed a concealer and draw two lines under her eyes, subsequently blending it quickly with a makeup brush.
"This should do.." – she thought, putting a bit mascara on her eyelashes. She left the bathroom and ran to her room. She opened the big wardrobe standing on the opposite side of the bed and started looking at clothes. Having no time to think about what to wear, she grabbed the first pair of jeans she saw and a plain white T-shirt with a small caption on it. She quickly put clothes on, grabbed a pair of sneakers and moved to the entry door. Just when she was about to leave, she went back to the kitchen, opened a cupboard and took a small can of cat food, which she then put in a blue bowl standing on the floor.
- I didn't forget about you, Zoe! – she said to a cat, which was already busy with her meal.
The woman could finally leave her place.
10 minutes later the woman was at the café, where she was appointed with her friend. She stepped inside, breathing quickly and started looking around. Just a moment later she noticed a brunette girl, sitting at a table next to the window, looking at her phone with unpleasant face. The blonde took a deep breath, walked to the table and took a seat, looking with an awkward smile at her companion. The brunette squinted her eyes, looking angrily and her friend.
- Hi – said the blonde girl, still breathing heavily.
- I'm almost ready – said annoyed brunette, mimicking her friend's voice. – And here you are, thirty minutes later when your house is literally 10 minutes away..
- Uhhh I'm so sorry, Em – said with apologizing tone the other one. - It was a rough night – she gasped.
- You pay and we're even – smiled the dark haired girl, grabbing menu.
- Sure thing! – answered with a smile and did as her friend, looking down at café's offer.
- But yeah.. you don't look good, what's happened? – asked Emily, looking up at her friend.
- Weeellll.. – started the blonde, putting down her menu, rolling her eyes down.
- Cassidy… You partied last night, didn't you? – said Em with confidence. Her friend smiled innocently. - Wow, didn't even call me! – she added fussily.
-It was just our office party..
- Hmm... you don't look like after your office parties – said suspiciously Emily.
- Maybe... just maybe.. I ended up partying with Josh until late hour – answered Cassidy with a saucy smile, softly biting her lower lip.
- THIS Josh? - Cass nodded still smiling softly. - You serious? What about Zac? You just broke up a few weeks ago..
- What about him? – asked unbothered blonde - HE cheated. I'm not gonna cry over him.
Just as she was about to continue, they both got interrupted by a waiter.
- May I take your order? – asked a young guy with a wide smile. Cassidy looked down at the menu and answered after a few seconds.
- Large vanilla latte for me, please – she said sending a guy warm smile.
- Same one – said Emily. The waiter nodded and turned back to leave. - And a piece of cheese cake! – she stopped the guy. - She pays so.. – she smiled, poking her thumb at her companion.
- Make it two pieces – added Cass, who seemingly felt like getting a cake too. She then turned her face to Em and continued the subject from before the interruption. - Anyway, nothing happened between me and Josh. He's fun but that's it, we're just good friends.
- If you say so.. just don't get involved in anything too early, okay? – said with concern.
Emily and Cassidy were friends since early childhood. Even though they were raised in completely different environments, they managed to become close friends from the very beginning. Ever since then they were inseparable, though their personalities could be described as fire and ice. Emily was always the responsible, thoughtful person who never got in trouble. She was rather a shy type who didn't enjoy the company of many people, all she needed was her best friend and a couple of others to fulfil her social needs. She much more preferred her time alone, reading books, studying or testing coffee in different cafes. Cassidy, on the other hand, was much more reckless. She liked when there was a lot happening and she enjoyed partying with her friends. She wasn't a bad student during school times, but she preferred spending her time on bonding with others rather than wasting time studying. She happened to get in trouble from time to time, but could always count on her friend to help her out with whatever she was going through. This way they both knew they could count on each other for good and for bad. They complement each other perfectly.
- I'm not going to. I was with Zac for 3 years.. it's my time to enjoy my single life now – laughed Cassidy. – Now I want to party, flirt with guys and just enjoy myself!
- And that's the spirit! – clapped the brunette, what made Cassidy laugh.
- Enough about me – she then said. - What about you? How's that app? – she said mentioning the dating app her friend had installed some time before.
- Uhh.. I'm not looking for anything – simply answered the girl. Just then the waiter came to their table and put their meals in front of them.
- Thanks – said to already leaving waiter and went back to talking to her friend. - Are you still texting those guys?
- Yes, but nothing more. I don't expect anything.. That guy, June, is a bit too clingy tho.
- Why?
- He expects us to will fall in love.. – said Emily rolling her eyes.
- Oh boy.. and how do you feel about it?
- Oh come on, I really just want to talk with someone. I'm not looking for a lover or anything like that. – answered the girl. She was a kind of person who was mainly focus on her job and self-development, not partying and dating like her friend.
Cassidy's phone vibrated and the screen brighten up. A notification popped up. It was an SMS from unknown number. She grabbed the device, unlocked it and read the message.
UNKNOWN: ...Hello...?
CASSIDY: ?
UNKNOWN: Can you see this?
Emily interrupted her friend.
- What is it? – she asked.
- Uhh.. I don't know, unknown number. I think it's a mistake – answered Cassidy, still holding her phone.
CASSIDY: Yes, I can.
UNKNOWN: ...Finally connected. Thank god. I found a phone at the subway station, but all it had was this phone number. I'd love to find the owner, but there's nothing on the phone other than your number. There's a note tho with some address and numbers. Would go check it myself, but I'm abroad..
Cassidy showed her phone to the friend to let her read the message.
- Uh.. that's a long ass message. Is it possible some of my friends lost their phone?
- Maybe.. – answered the girl as she was about to finish reading. – Just ask about the address, you'll find out.
CASSIDY: What address and numbers?
UNKNOWN: The numbers look like some kind of a password. And the address.. well, do you mind going there?
UNKNOWN: That's all that's saved on this phone. I know it's weird to be asked such a favour from a random person all of a sudden.. but I'd really appreciate it if you could help.
- Take a look – said Cassidy, moving her chair closer to Emily, so they both can see the phone screen.
- Um.. that looks strange – gave her opinion the brunette, while taking a sip of coffee. - Just forget it.
- What if it's some of my friend's phone?
- Your friend's? This guy said he's abroad.. is any of your friends abroad?
- Actually no.. I don't think so.
- Just ignore the messages – advised Em, cutting another piece of her cheesecake.
- But what if.. – started Cass, but got interrupted by having her phone taken away from her by Emily who started typing on it with her mouth stuffed with food.
CASSIDY: Why are you so obsessed with finding the owner? Just go to the police station and leave it there.
UNKNOWN: Well, I know it's hard to understand but I have a religion. It says you can't miss any opportunity to do good. I keep thinking about how stressed the owner must be. I know the area where the address of the place is. It's safe there. If you feel like something's off, you can just turn around and leave.
UNKNOWN: Please?
- He really wants to help that person.
- The hell you're saying? – said surprised Emily. - Cass, it's creepy. A random person wants you to go to some place.. it smells like a psycho, kidnapper or even worse.. human trafficking! – she raised her voice and went back to answering the unknown person.
CASSIDY: No! You're creepy!
- I think you're overreacting a bit – sighed with disbelief.
UNKNOWN: Creepy? ... ^^ ;;
- Enough of this – the brunette got annoyed and texted the person once again.
CASSIDY: Go away! Don't try to text me again or I'll report to the police.
Typed for the last time Emily, before blocking the number.
- I blocked him – she informed, deleting all the messages. - Forget about it. I can't believe you thought it was a person with good intentions – she shook her head, giving Cass her phone back.
- Oh come on, I wouldn't go there. I was just curious about what he was gonna say.
- I hope so!
- No worries, I'm not stupid – Cassidy rolled her eyes, while taking a bite of the cheesecake.
- I know. – Emily looked at her watch and her face expression changed immediately. - Damn, it's getting late. I have to go – she said while standing up from her chair. - Will talk to you later. Please take care and promise me you won't reply if they try to reach you again.. I don't want anything bad happen to you.
- Okay, mommy – said goofily Cass. - I promise! Good luck at work!
- Thanks! – Em gave her friend a kiss on a cheek, then grabbed a glass of coffee and took the last sip. She smiled at her friend once again and quickly left.
Cassidy laughed at herself softly and took a look at her phone. There was nothing on it, no sign of a person who had just texted her a moment ago, which made the girl feel bothered. She was a very curious person and didn't like leaving things unsolved and her overthinking only made it worse. She was wondering who that person was, how they looked like. And what if they really wanted to find the owner and she just ignored it? Cassidy sighed knowing there was nothing she could do anymore, it was already too late to find out the truth. She called the waiter and paid for both her and her friend after what she left.